


This is Ground Control

by Lonaargh



Category: Lifeline (Video Game 2015)
Genre: Adams is awesome, Electronic Communication, Gen, Lifeline spoilers, Post-Halfway to Infinity, Texting, male!taylor, phonecall, slightly creepy maybe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-10-25 18:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10770288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonaargh/pseuds/Lonaargh
Summary: Taylor is back! Sort of. Technically. And he's ready to come back home. There are, however, a few technical problems that need to be solved first. He joins forces with his Lifeline and V. Adams to get back to earth. But at what cost?





	1. Connection Terminated

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lolymie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolymie/gifts).



> So! Taylor, huh? I've fallen in love with him (Taylor is a 'he' in my games) ever since I received his first message. I started writing this ditty before Halfway to Infinity came out, and I was thrilled when it turned out Halfway to Infinity actually fit really well into my story.
> 
> I'm gifting this work to Lolymie because I KNOW she loves Taylor just as much as I do u.u  
> More chapters will follow. Kudos are awesome and majorly appreciated.

[Somewhere in a downtrodden house in Mumbai. The owners of the house are asleep, oblivious to the raging traffic outside. An ancient radio sits silently next to the bed of the youngest boy. When the clock strikes midnight, the radio crackles to life. All the dials and knobs light up and start spinning. There is no music, only static. The boy wakes up and he stares at the radio for a moment. Trying to get back to sleep, he hits the Off-button but it doesn’t help. With some grumbling and effort he manages to pry the batteries out, but this doesn’t turn the radio off either. Then he hears a voice over the static. His screams wake up the entire house.]

[A few minutes to midnight in Paris. A girl is staring out of her window while trying to focus on the paper that’s due tomorrow. Her iPod is blaring FallOut Boy through her earphones. When the clock strikes midnight the power in her room dies for a second. It gets back on quickly, but her iPod is still silent. Which is odd, considering that it runs on its own power supply. She shakes it and presses the on/off button a few times. A computerized voice suddenly starts talking to her through her earphones. She screams and yanks the earphones out. The rest of the evening is spent on the phone with her boyfriend who is trying to convince her that she simply had a weird dream.]

[A dark, windy evening in Amsterdam. A young woman is sound asleep. Her phone lies next to her on her nightstand, as it always is. Outside the churchbells toll midnight. Precisely on the last strike, her phone rings. It takes three rings for her to wake up and answer the call.

“Hello?”

At first she’s met with silence. “Hello?”

_“Is this you?”_ A computerized voice, tinny through the speakers.“... who is this?”

_“I can’t keep this up for long. I’ve been searching so long and so far. But I think it’s you. It has to be you. Now that I’ve found you I can-”_

The connection was lost. The woman stares at the phone in her hand, suddenly wide awake. She jolts when it buzzes, one text message has been received.]

_**[Communication with external server established. Verifying packages. Connection: Established]**_

- **Knock knock**

\- Whoever you are, this is not funny [Her fingers fly over her screen, angrily typing out the response.]

- **Oh, come on, just do me this favor. Just once?**

-What the hell?

**-Fine, I’ll do it for you. Knock, knock. Who’s there?**

-Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you have some serious issues

- **You’re telling me? Anyway. Who’s there? Space Buddy!**

-... what? 

- **No, not ‘what?’. ‘Who?’. But you’re getting closer. Space Buddy who?**

-This can’t be. You’re pulling my leg. 

**-Your favorite Space Buddy Taylor!**

[connection has been terminated]

[The phone has been flung into the far corner of the room. The woman is breathing heavily, staring at the device with wide, terrified eyes. Twenty minutes pass while she’s still sitting there, not taking her eyes off the phone. Her breathing and heart rate slow down as she’s processing what just happened. Then she slowly gets up from the bed and walks towards the phone that’s still lying in the corner. She picks it up gingerly. There’s a crack in the screen, but it still works. You have (1) one unread message.

With trembling fingers she taps the icon and opens the message.]

_**[Communication with external server established. Verifying packages. Connection: Established]** _

**-Oh shit. No! I’m sorry! Come back! I didn’t mean to scare the living daylight out of you!**

-Who. Are. You.

**-Oh, thank God. You’re back. You took your sweet time though. I suppose that’s what I get for keeping you in suspense so long back when I was on my very own planet.**

-... Taylor?

**-I… thought we had already established that?**

-How can you be Taylor? Taylor is… he is... Taylor saved our planet by sacrificing himself. I was talking to him when it happened. He is dead.

**-Wow. It sounds so very gloomy when you say it like that. Gloomy and definite.**

-He got swallowed by a black hole. I’d say that counts as gloomy and definite, yes.

- **Well, at least you didn’t lose your ability to snark me. I had hoped for a more cheerier ‘welcome back, Taylor’ though. Not gonna lie.**

-Seriously? You decide to contact me in the middle of the night, tell me that you’re Taylor through a bad freaking Knock, Knock joke and then you _complain_ about not getting the reception you expected?

- **Hey, hey! The joke was not bad!**

-Oh my God… it really is you, isn’t it? There really is only one person in the world who would actually really make jokes like that in a situation like this…

**-I’m… not sure if I should be blushing or if I should feel offended. Let’s go for blushing. And, technically, your ‘only person in the world’ statement doesn’t really ring true for me at the moment. I’m not on earth. Or… IN the world. To be exact.**

-How is that exact? Jesus, Taylor, I thought you were dead! I have a very overwhelming urge to scream at you in all caps for the next half hour. How did you survive? How are you? Are you okay? How... why… where… when?

**-So many questions! And I have an answer to all of them. Are you ready? The answer is: “I have absolutely no fucking clue”. By all accounts I should be dead. Dead as a dead thing. But I’m not. Obviously. Otherwise this would be a very creepy conversation.**

-Not to be rude, Taylor, but it already IS a very creepy conversation.

**-You failed. That WAS rude. Anyway. The last thing I remember is time being spread thin and then ME being spread thin and twisted and pulled apart. And then… nothing.**

-Everything went black? That’s a little cliché.

- **No, not black. Just… nothing. People always think that ‘nothing’ means things going black. But it isn’t. It doesn’t have a color. It doesn’t have the absence of color. There are no smells, no sounds. Just. Nothing. And that’s where I was. That’s WHAT I was. Nothing.**

-It’s still creepy, Taylor. You’re not doing much to get rid of the creepy factor.

**-Sorry. Anyway. I don’t know how long I stayed in that state. It could have been years, but also seconds. One moment I’m blissfully unaware of anything, and the next I’m rushing at the speed of light, stars going by me, wind in my ears, and I’m… back.**

-...Back where?

**-That’s a very good question. And I don’t really have an answer? Wherever I am… Whatever I am… I have no clue.**

-What do you mean, WHATever you are?

**-I don’t think there’s a good way to break this to you gently. So… uhm… I don’t have a body.**

-Har har.

**-Oh, that’s a healthy response. No panic, no fear, no screaming. Just ‘Har har’. I have to say, it doesn’t do much to convince me that you’re taking this very seriously.**

-Come on, Taylor. How can you not have a body? You’re talking to me! How is that even possible without a body?

**-You are on FIRE today with the good questions. I don’t know. All I know is that I don’t have one.**

-... 

**-You’re losing your touch, the ‘har har’ was a better reaction than three dots.**

-I’m sorry. I’ve got nothing. It’s either the dots or the ‘har har’. 

**-Yeah. I get that. But, I didn’t contact you to reminisce about the good times we’ve had before while I was running for my life. And failing to run for my life. Nor did I contact you to tell you about the immense loss that was my studly body.**

-I’m pretty sure you once told me you were scrawny and skinny. 

**-Rude.**

-Taylor…

**-No, no. Don’t get all emotional on me. You’re the sassy one, I’m the pessimistic one who thinks he’s going to die any minute now. You’re the one who keeps her cool. You’re the one who got me out of any trouble I managed to run into.**

-I am the sassy one? Mister ‘Knock Knock, it’s Spacebuddy’?

**-See, I TOLD you it was a good joke!**

-Taylor, seriously…

**-You’re doing it again. Stop it. I need your help.**

-Help? How can I help you when you don’t even have a fucking body??

**\- I have to admit that I don’t know the details of the plan yet. Look, I spent a long time trying to find you. Do you have any idea how hard it is to travel through radiowaves and other technical waves I won’t bother you with? Do you know HOW MANY people there are on earth? Do you know how many people I’ve freaked out by randomly talking to them through whichever electronic device they had available?**

-You were a poltergeist? For real?

**-The best. But I’d like to stop poltering… geisting? What IS the right verb here? Anyway, I’d like to finally come back home now.**

-I understand that, but how in the hell are you going to that while you’re just a disembodied voice? Wait, are you living in my phone now?

**-What? No! It… It’s hard to explain. I can sort of see the connections that are available to me and tap into that. As for the disembodied voice part: I don’t suppose you have a spare body lying around?**

-Of course not! I- … hang on.

**-I was joking. And I’d be extremely creeped out if you did in fact have a spare body just lying around somewhere.**

-I actually might have. 

**-What?**

-Well, not lying around. Not literally. But-

**-Of course not. Perish the thought. This is where you tell me you’ve got it propped up on a chair or something?**

-No, obviously not. What are you on about, Taylor?

**-Oh nothing. Just trying to figure out if you’re a serial killer or something. Who else has a spare body, just like that??**

-A mortician? A mad scientist?

**-... are you a mortician?**

-No.

**-Are you a mad scientist?**

-No!

**-Well then-**

-But I know someone who knows someone who is. Look, I have to make a call. Let’s hope Adams is still alive.

**\- Who? What are you talking about? I’m the one who is supposed to be mysterious and cryptic and confusing. When did we change roles?**

-When you decided to jump into a black hole.

**-Okay, look, technically I didn’t exactly JUMP.**

-Save it for later. I need to make a call. You… ehm… don’t go anywhere.

**-Oh, har har.**

-I’ll text you once I have more information. Don’t worry.

**-Don’t worry, she says. That’s easy for you to say. Be aware that I WILL start haunting your house if you don’t get back to me!**

-I’ll remember you fondly every time you make my microwave beep in the middle of the night.

**-Damn straight.**

-Taylor… be careful.

**-I always am. Talk to you later.**

[connection has been terminated]


	2. Old Acquaintances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spare body is quite hard to find. Unless you know someone who knows someone who might have a few bodies handy. 
> 
> ~~
> 
> “I know this all sounds absolutely INSANE, but there you have it,” she finishes. 
> 
> “I don’t know, Sam,” Adams answers after a thoughtful silence, “it doesn’t sound more crazy to me than a remote laboratory hidden away on the icy plains of Alaska, filled with a dozen or more robots that are all a younger version of this one mad scientist who only has a week or two to live because of some undisclosed disease. Oh, and did I mention yet that this mad scientist wants to place his own consciousness in one of the bots so he can basically go on living forever?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BAM. Second chapter. With love to everyone in the Oval Office. I'm sorry (sorry, not really) that I keep spamming you all with Lifeline screenshots.  
> [edit] So. I replayed Whiteout and noticed that I got a lot of things just plain wrong. I'll be working to fix all this throughout the chapters. That's what you get for writing a fic after ONE playthrough half a year ago.

Contacting Adams is something she almost never does, and for good reasons. It’s dangerous, for both of them. She is pretty sure Adams is still being hunted, and if they (whoever ‘they’ are) ever find out that she knows how to contact him she’d be so deep in shit it’d be inadvisable to breathe through her nose.

After a bit of searching she finds the book in her bookcase where she had hidden the note in. _Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy_. That seems weirdly fitting right now, what with Taylor basically having hitchhiked his way on radiowaves and other matter through the galaxy. The note contains a series of numbers, which will eventually be deciphered into a phone number. _If_ she can find the goddamn cypher. Which she has also hidden away on a very hard to find location. Which she has obviously forgotten. Thirty frustrating minutes later she recovers the cypher from the back of the photograph on her nightstand. 

She glances at the picture while she waits for the call to go through to the answering machine. It is a picture of herself, cuddling a huge Siberian Husky with the most piercing blue eyes she has ever seen. A smile slowly grows on her face. Then it strikes her that writing the cypher on the back of a photograph of Blue might be a bit too obvious, and the smile melts away. It’s only a matter of luck that they haven’t found her, she really needs to find a better spot for that cypher.

[click]

 _You’ve reached the answering machine of-_ [static] _-please leave a message after the beep._

[Beep]

“It’s me. Hadn’t heard from you in a while, so I figured we could get together for a cup of coffee or something? Tell your sister I said Hi! Anyway, you know where to reach me, drop me a line somewhere today or tomorrow.”

She hangs up. Now all she has to do is wait. 

Luckily Adams never was one to keep her waiting. It only takes him two minutes to send her a text. It didn’t say much. Just a cell phone number. Obviously from a different number he had used to text her with. Can’t be too careful. Every shred of communication between them has to be careful. It’s why her message on the answering machine was in code as well. It’s not a hard code to crack if they manage to track him down, but it’s still better than nothing and can still be used when she needs to call him in public. There’s no better way to sound like a lunatic when you’re whispering things like ‘The pink elephant crows at spring’ in your cellphone in the middle of a busy convenience store.

He picks up immediately when she calls the number. He always does. He’s Adams. Dependable Adams. 

“Sam?” A deep voice. Full of concern. She can’t help but smile again. Just listening to him talk takes a load off of her heart. 

“Who else? You give your number to a lot of girls?”

Adams sighs. In relief or frustration, Sam isn’t quite sure. She’s never sure with Adams. “Of course not. I just wanted to be sure.”

“You know, maybe you should try giving your number to other girls. Get out there. Date. Have one-night stands. Live a little. Get high, get drunk. The drill.”

“You are hilarious,” he says dryly, “How are you?”

“Oh, you know,” Sam sits back on the bed and crosses her legs in front of her, “getting woken up in the middle of the night by astronauts who are supposed to be dead but now suddenly turn out to be in need of your help. And not only are they not dead, but they’re not exactly alive either. It’s real good fun. You know how it is. All in a day’s work. And how are you doing?”

Silence. Then: “You know, sometimes I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not.”

“A good rule of thumb is that I’m usually sarcastic. Like, at least 95% of the time.”

“That’s a relief. For a minute I thought-”

“But not this time. This time I’m being perfectly serious. How’s Blue doing?”

“What? Sam, I’m not sure I completely got what you said. You got woken up by an astronaut? What are you talking about?”

“Well, technically he was not really an astronaut. He was more of a _student_ of some sorts. He used to study rats. Had a bunch of notes on them. But he studied them in space, so that counts as being an astronaut, right? In fact, he did say that his notes survived the initial crash and he left them on that moon. He hoped one day they would be regarded as ‘holy’ or something.”

“Okay. So. What exactly did you smoke before going to sleep?”

She laughs, and feels very proud that she only sounded a little bit hysterical when doing so. “Nothing. I promise. Are you sitting down? You should be sitting down for this story.”

Propping herself up with a pillow in her back, she makes herself comfortable while she relates her whole history with Taylor to Adams. “I know this all sounds absolutely INSANE, but there you have it,” she finishes. Through the phone she can hear a percolator. Coffee. Now that’s a novel idea.

“I don’t know, Sam,” Adams answers after a thoughtful silence, “it doesn’t sound more crazy to me than a remote laboratory hidden away on the icy plains of Alaska, filled with a dozen or more robots who are all younger versions of this one mad scientist who only has a week or two to live because of some undisclosed disease. Oh, and did I mention yet that this mad scientist wants to place his own consciousness in one of the bots so he can basically go on living forever?”

“That’s… a good point actually. For a moment there I almost forgot who I was talking to.”

“So what’s your plan?”

Ah. The hard questions.

“I don’t really have a plan yet,” Sam says reluctantly, “but he asked me if I had any spare bodies lying around. And well-”

“You’re thinking of the Adamses,” Adams interrupts her. Sam isn’t sure if she can hear disapproval in his tone, but he sure as hell doesn’t sound enthusiastic about the idea.

“I am.”

“Sam, that laboratory is _dangerous_. Sibellius might be dead, but his minions sure as hell are not. I’m constantly finding evidence that they’re still trying to track me down There is a reason why I’m this hard to reach, you know.” There is an edge to his voice and Sam is now absolutely positive that he’s not only disapproving, he’s pretty _pissed_ about it as well. 

“I know, I know. But Adams, if we can find some way to transfer his… his… conscience… his WHATEVER to one of those robots…”

“There is no guarantee that something like that is even possible. And we'll have to find one of them who isn't active yet, because I'm not stealing anyone's life like Sibellius tried to do with mine. And Sam, what if the robot is faulty, like I or III? The amount of complications-”

“I know! But I have to try!” She takes a shaky breath, trying to calm herself down when she notices she is shouting in the phone. “I have to try, Adams. It may be the only way to bring him home.”

“... home.” Adams’ voice trails off. 

“I need your help,” she says again, her voice barely a whisper, “I need to know where Sibellius’ facility is. You don’t have to come along with me, God knows I don’t want to put you through all that again. But-”

He interrupts her, “What is he to you?”

Silence. Sam opens her mouth but she finds that she doesn’t quite know what to say. The question has caught her off guard. She never really gave her feelings for Taylor any real thought. He had simply been _there_ all of a sudden. And he had needed _her,_ and-

“Sam?”

“I… don’t know. I was the only one around when he needed help. I’ve guided him through some really fucked up situations on that fucking moon of his. I’ve seen him at his worst. I was there when he sacrificed himself for us. When he was ready to throw his life away for a pregnant woman he’d only known a few weeks. I read his last words when that black hole swallowed him…”

“Touching. But that doesn’t answer my question. I need to know where you stand with him before I’m going into this. If it turns out that we can’t help him, I don’t want you doing anything stupid that might possibly get you killed. So I’m asking you again. What is he to you?”

“Since when is “I don’t know” not an answer?” She hates that she can virtually _hear_ herself pouting in that sentence. A grown woman should not be pouting, no matter if anyone can see her. 

“Since I’m convinced that you do know. I’ve known you for quite some time now, and if there’s anyone who knows exactly what she feels then it’s you. And you always make sure people know about it. You make sure you’re heard. Loudly. Multiple times. Until people want to beg you to please shut up about it.”

“You are an ass.”

“Very much so.”

“Also, ‘loudly’? ‘Multiple times’? Do you have any idea how incredibly dirty you just made that sound?”

“I do. Do you have any idea that I am perfectly aware that you’re trying to avoid the subject here?”

Sam sighs and gives up. “I really don’t know, Adams. It’d be a lie to say that I think of him as a mere acquaintance. And I want to do everything in my power to help him. I definitely consider him to be my friend. But other than that? I never met the guy!”

“You’re willing to infiltrate in a heavily guarded and secret laboratory for some guy you never even met?”

Sam sits up angrily, “I’m sorry, but did you forget that I was also willing to help you get your ass back to safety when you were trying to _escape_ from said facility?”

“Yes, but that was different!”

“How was that different, Adams? Because I’m not seeing it! Do I need to tell you that I was also willing to get you money and a place to stay for those first few weeks when you escaped, despite us never having met? Do I need to remind you that you were once in the same position as he is now-”

Adams snorts, “I was never stranded somewhere in the universe as a disembodied voice, thank you very much-”

“- _in serious need of help, Adams.”_ Sam continues on, her voiced raised. Then she says firmly: “The way I see it you owe me one.”

A sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. Sam knows that she’s walking on very thin ice here. Adams doesn’t like being manipulated like this. It’s not fair, but it’s the only way she knows he’ll listen to her.

“... This must be some hell of a guy, Sam,” he finally sighs.

“He is.” She stares up at the ceiling as another silence falls. She can practically _hear_ Adams thinking, weighing his options.

“You know you are very dear to me, right?” He suddenly asks.

“I… thank you, I like you too?” Sam frowns, “Why are you bringing this up all out of the blue?”

“And you know I’ll never forgive either of us if something happens to you?”

“I know, Adams. Just… this is something I need to do.”

“Fine. I’ll arrange some things and contact you later today with the location. The airplane tickets are on me, seeing how I ‘owe you one’.”

“Adams-” 

He interrupts her. “I’m coming with you though. There is no way I’m letting you stroll in there alone. This isn’t a game, Sam.”

“You don’t need to if you don’t want to. I can handle myself just fine.”

“I’m sure you can. I’m coming anyway. Blue missed you, he’ll be happy to see you again.”

“Aww, I miss him too,” she laughs softly, “give him a kiss from me on that big nose of his.”

“Okay. I have to go, keep an eye on your phone. And Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“Pack something warm.”


	3. We're going to Alaska

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam tells Taylor about the plans to get him back home to earth. Then they're off to Alaska!  
> ~~  
>  **-How did you even meet this guy?**  
>  -So, funny story. One day I got a text on my phone…  
>  **-... You’re shitting me.**  
>  -And the guy texting me was this man who was completely disoriented and had no clue who he was or where he was going.  
>  **-That’s. Wow. I’m so very tempted to type “...” again, but I’ve done that too much already. Just remember that I was your first!**  
>  ~~

**[Communication with external server established. Verifying packages. Connection: Established]**

-Hey, I’m back. Are you still a floating disembodied voice stranded in my phone?

**-I’m afraid I can’t tell you that, Dave. Hehe, get it? I was HAL and- okay, no, never mind. Yes, I’m still here. Any news on the spare bodies that you did not brutally murder?**

-I’m not sure what’s more corny. That reference or the fact that I understood it.

**-Let’s settle for “both”.**

-Agreed. And I have news on a possible spare body for you, yes. A body of the non-murder-y type. It might not be easy to get to it, though.

**-...I’m still stuck on the ‘I’ve got an actual spare body’ part here.**

-I have a friend.

**-And may your life be blessed with many more than just the one.**

-Thank you. This friend has a bit of a… past.

**-Okay. That’s fine. Hitman? Murderer? Tell me. I can handle it. Oh God, was he involved in a drug war in which he got shot and is now in a coma? Don’t tell me you want me to take his body.**

-... What?

**-That’s a No then. That’s a relief.**

-This friend with a past escaped from a secret medical facility of some sorts a while ago. They were conducting experiments on him there. Sort of.

**-Oh. Oh no. I’m so sorry to hear that.**

-He escaped. Anyway. This facility was specialized in biosynthetic developments. There are... people. Humans, but not quite. It's complicated, let's call them 'clones', for now.

**-... Of course. What else.**

-We know for a fact that the facility is still operational. 

**-I think I know where you’re going with this train of thought. And I want to stop you right there. Because if he escaped, then they’re probably not too pleased with him.**

-I sincerely doubt he’s on their Christmas Card List for this year, yes. But he is the only one who knows exactly where the facility is located. 

**-Jesus. A cloning facility?? I… I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around this bit of news.**

-There’s more…

**-There’s more? Of course there’s more. There’s always more. Is this ‘more’ just as mind boggling as the first bit?**

-The person who set up the facility may also have found a way to transfer a consciousness...a mind… to a body. The bodies are his clones. He made copies of himself. Adams, my friend, found this out before he escaped.

**\- I… I need a minute.**

**[Connection timed out]**

[Half an hour later]

**[Communication with external server established. Verifying packages. Connection: Established]**

**-You aren’t joking, right? You’re not just making all this up just to give me some hope while my atoms are being scattered all over the galaxy until there’s nothing left of me?**

-I… wow, that sounded extremely dramatic. No. I’m not joking. I’m not making this up. I’m not sure if we can find out how to transfer your… YOU into one of the bodies. But I’m hoping that we’ll find some of this scientist’s research when we’re at the facility. Or hell, you are a scientist too. Maybe you can figure something out when the time comes. With your genius and Adams’ experience we’re bound to get you back home. Somehow.

**-I’m a terrific dramaqueen. You should’ve seen me in my Glee-club at school. I always wanted the solos. I can’t sing worth a damn, but that never stopped me. And you called me a genius! I’m flattered. It’s a lie, but I’m still flattered. As for your ‘Bring Taylor Home’ speech… I… I don’t think we have another choice. Well. You do. You can always simply let me be, you know.**

-You’re being selfless and dramatic again. Don’t you think you’ve sacrificed yourself enough yet?

**-No. I don’t want you or some guy I don’t even know in danger on my behalf. I’d rather die.**

-Again. 

**-Yes.**

-Yeah, no. We’re not doing that again. It was horrible enough the first two times I lived through that with you. I’m bringing you home, Taylor.

**\- I don’t have any actual tearducts at the moment but let me tell you, if I had, I would be crying right now. Manly tears, of course. But manly tears of gratitude. Seriously, thank you.**

-Don’t mention it. So, I have to get to Alaska. Is there any way we can keep in contact during the travelling? I mean, I have to bring YOU to the body, I suppose.

**-Yeah, I’ve got your cellphone’s signature figured out. I can now see it clearly even in this tangle of thousands of other signals. Wait... _Alaska_?**

-Yep. Let’s hope this phone can withstand the cold. Bring your earmuffs. 

**-How did you even meet this guy?**

-So, funny story. One day I got a text on my phone…

**-... You’re shitting me.**

-And the guy texting me was this man who was completely disoriented and had no clue who he was or where he was going.

**-That’s. Wow. I’m so very tempted to type “...” again, but I’ve done that too much already. Just remember that I was your first!**

-I seem to attract stranded men somehow. I don’t even know. If it’s becoming a regular thing I’m swearing off electronics for good.

**-Ouch. I’m hurt. Anyway, I should be good on finding your phone for now. We’ll see how it goes when you’re airborne though. I don’t know if this whole thing is based on connectivity or… I don’t know.**

-I’m turning on voice recognition so I can just speak to you. And text to speech for the other way around. It’ll save me a lot of typing. 

[The phone buzzes. _One (1) new message has been received._ When she opens it she finds flight information from Adams. Her plane leaves in five hours, she can pick up her tickets at the desk at the airport.]

-I just got word from Adams. We have to get moving, the plane leaves in five hours and we have to be present at the airport in two. Oh crap, do I even have enough clothes for this??

**-You know, I’m starting to think you haven’t planned this at all.**

-Shut up.

**-Shutting up, ma’am.**

[Connection terminated]

[The drive to the airport is a quick one, the cabby is mostly silently after asking her where she wants to go. The fee when she arrives is outrageous, but she pays it without complaining. It would have been just as expensive to keep her car parked at the airport.

Her ticket lies waiting for her at the information desk, where a woman glares at her. “This is not standard procedure, miss,” she tells Sam reproachfully. Sam simply shrugs and takes her ticket. 

After the check-in there’s a No Cellphone zone, so she can’t contact Taylor. When it’s her turn to go through security she gets interviewed by a fairly attractive customs officer. She smiles at him, not even bothering to hide her nerves. 

“Hi, First time flying so far. I’m a bit jittery. Sorry.”

He flashes her a sympathetic smirk, “Understandable, don’t worry about it. Why are you going to Alaska, ma’am?”

“Pleasure.” This earns her a raised eyebrow. The sympathetic smirk changes into an amused grin.

“Where will you be staying?”

“Oh, with a friend of mine. He’s expecting me.”

“You’re travelling alone? No boyfriend or husband?” He’s still grinning at her, pearly whites gleaming in the light. 

Sam grins back. “Sadly, no. I’m travelling all alone today. Unless you’re volunteering?”

This time he laughs out loud. “I’m afraid my boss won’t like that. Maybe next time.” He turns around to write something on a piece of paper. He hands her back her passport with a wink and a cheerful, “Have a nice flight, ma’am.” Inside her passport she finds the paper. On it he has written his phone number.

There are not a lot of people waiting to board the plane with her. Apparently the idea of going to Alaska on a way too early Wednesday morning is not something a lot of people find attractive. Sam finds it hard to believe it’s only been a few hours since Taylor contacted her. It feels like half a lifetime already. 

The stewardess greets her with a slightly too manic toothpaste smile when she boards the plane. “Welcome! Have a nice flight!” she chirps at Sam. Sam, not fond of flying to begin with, nods at her. It’s all the cheerfulness she can muster at the moment.

With a grateful sigh she lets herself fall in her chair, her hand luggage safely stowed away in the overhead storage. First Class. Adams really splurged on this. Maybe he was trying to make her feel guilty for the ‘You Owe Me’ comment? Whatever it is, Sam feels only gratitude for the fact that she has plenty of legroom during this way too long flight to the next continent.

“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Van Aalderen and I will be your captain on this transatlantic flight to Alaska. We’re still waiting for a Go Ahead from the tower, but we’ll shortly be taking off from the Polderbaan. The flight will take approximately fifteen hours and we’ll be landing in Anchorage where the weather is clear but cold with ten degrees below zero. I hope you brought your warm jackets. Me and my copilot will keep you up to date with information at regular intervals during the flight.”

Sam leans back and lets out a shaky sigh. She’s really doing this. Her boss will kill her when he finds out she’s not really sick in bed with the flu. Well, he’ll have to stand in line. Her mother will probably be one of the first to murder her when she hears about this impromptu trip to the other side of the world. 

The plane starts to pick up speed and she looks out the window, trying to ignore that heavy feeling in her stomach that she always feels whenever she’s in a plane that takes off. It doesn’t take long before they leave the ground and the landscape shrinks rapidly. Well. She’s in the air now. Next stop, Anchorage, Alaska.]


	4. Touch down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have landed in Alaska. Now, to find Adams and not freeze.  
> ~~  
> "Look, Mr Disembodied voice, you might not be able to feel anything, but I do. And I am cold. And if shopping helps me to stay warm instead of freezing my ass off, then I will shop until I drop."  
> ~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I noticed today that I really don't remember a lot from playing Whiteout and that I probably need to rewrite a bunch of important details once I replay the game <.<
> 
> Bugger.
> 
> Anyway! Don't forget to leave kudos if you liked, or drop me a line telling me what you liked/didn't like!

Anchorage, Alaska is, for want of a better word, cold. At least, it is when Sam finally lands. Jetlagged and tired, she drags herself to the baggage claim carousel. She turns on her phone on the way there.

_**[Communication with external server established. Verifying packages. Connection: Established]** _

**__**_-_ Hey Taylor. Sorry for the long wait, we just landed.

**-Whee! We’re now in Alaska! It’s good to know that your signal is still easy to distinguish. Did you know that your signal lights up a pretty orange whenever you’re active? Do you think it’s because you’re Dutch? Or is it just because I know you are Dutch and somehow my perception of you influences the way I see things. Because-**

-You’re rambling.

**-Sorry. I tend to ramble when I’m nervous. Not that I have any reason to be nervous. I mean, I’m just along for the ride, so to speak. I’m a passive passenger. A-**

-Taylor.

**-Right. So. Now what? Do you see your friend anywhere?**

-No, but I doubt he’ll be picking me up from here anyway. He also has Blue to consider.

**-Right. I meant to ask you this. You said your friend _escaped_ from that facility. Does that mean he’s a clone himself?**

-Sort of. Like I said, it's not quite the correct term. But the alternatives are even worse.

**-A rose by any other name, etc? But, wow, that must’ve been hard on him. How did he take it?**

-As well as you’d expect.

**-Soooo, screaming, kicking and about to commit bloody murder?**

-Pretty much, yes.

**-You’re not being very talkative. Are you alright?**

-I’m walking in the middle of a very crowded airport and I’m talking to you through my headset. Try to picture this, please. Now consider our topic of conversation and how this will go over when people hear me talking about this. Really think about it.

**-Ohhh… yeah. The straightjacket is probably not as comfortable as most people think. But! Although I’ve never really seen you, I feel sure that you are able to really rock that look.**

-Hmhm. It’s probably very slimming. Excuse me, sir, could you maybe help me get that suitcase off the- Yes. Thank you.

- **I’m sorry?**

-Not you, dummy. I asked someone to help me get my suitcase off the carousel. Aaaand now there’s passport control. Again. 

**-Dummy? Excuse you, I was a genius only fifteen hours ago.**

-A lot can happen in fifteen hours, love.

**-That’s very true. So, he found out he’s a clone, flipped his wig. He’s alright now?**

-Define ‘alright’. 

**-Not a crazy axe wielding murderer who can’t get to grips with the fact that was never officially born.**

-Oh yes, when you consider that ‘alright’, then he’s just peachy.

**-That was somehow not as reassuring as I thought it would be.**

-You asked. Hang on, I’m heading to the information desk to see if Adams maybe left me a message.

 **– He would do that? I mean that's not really the safest thing for him to do right? What if somebody was following him and they intercepted the message he left for you?**

– We’ll figure it out. Don't worry.

– **Sure, yes, don't worry. I never worry. "Worrying" is not in my dictionary.**

[Sam walks to the reception. She's greeted by an elderly lady who looks her up and down sympathetically. "You know, love," she says, "there's a store, a little further along where they're selling warmer clothes than the ones you’re wearing right now." She smiles gently at Sam and points in the direction of the store she mentioned.

Sam nods gratefully, saying, "Thank you very much, I will certainly check it out in a second. I was wondering if somebody maybe left a message for me? My name is Sam. I'm from the Netherlands."

The woman raises an eyebrow and starts rummaging through some papers she has lying around. It takes her a bit of looking and searching, but eventually she does find something. Squinting through her glasses, she holds up a paper and asks, "Let’s see, would that be a Sam Bakker, by any chance?"

"Yes! That's me.”

"You're lucky, you know," the woman says, "we normally don't accept messages like these. It's not really part of our policy. I don't know what your friend said to Helen, my boss, to make this happen.” She winks at Sam, “Although Helen did always have a weakness for pretty men. Must be a looker, this friend of yours.”

"Thank you very much," Sam answers, "for your advice on the store and for giving me this message."

Sam takes the paper and walks a little way away from the information desk. When she's sure nobody can see her she unfolds the paper and starts reading the text written on it out loud so Taylor can hear it as well.]

–So, let's see what he has to say. It says here "Hey there, Scout! I know you always wanted to drive an American classic, so why don't you try to take a spin in a Cadillac?”

**-Wait, what? Did he really buy you a Cadillac? I mean, not that I'm judging or anything, friends who buy you cars are really awesome, don't get me wrong. But it does seem a little bit excessive. Taking you out for dinner? Okay! Diamonds? Sure! But an actual Cadillac? Wow! Then again, if your friend ever feels the sudden urge to buy me a new spaceship I will gladly encourage this behavior.**

– No, he did not buy me a Cadillac. He wants us to go to the rental thing. Whatever you Americans call a place you can rent a car.

**– Do you think he realizes the song really goes “Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz.” It doesn't go “Oh Lord, would you please buy me a Cadillac.”?**

–I wouldn't say no to either of those, to be honest. They're both great cars.

**– You don't even know what KIND of Cadillac!**

– While we are going there, maybe I should check out this store the woman was talking about. I don't know about you, what with you being a disembodied voice and all that, but I am actually freezing to death here. 

**– Ah yes, who could have suspected that Alaska is actually cold?**

–Your glibness is not helping. _Yes hello, I will take this jacket, and these skiing pants, and these gloves. Oh, and this hat looks really really warm! Hmm, maybe I should take along an extra pair of socks. You can never have too many socks._

**– Really? We are on a very important mission to get my body back. Okay, maybe not really my body but we are at least working on getting a body for me, and you are actually going shopping? And you are buying extra socks?**

– Look, Mr Disembodied voice, you might not be able to feel anything, but I do. And I am cold. And if shopping helps me to stay warm instead of freezing my ass off, then I will shop until I drop. Anyway, I am done now. I will get changed in one of the toilet stalls later on. First, let's get to the car rental place and see what Adams has in store for us.

**– Lead the way! Get it? "Lead the way"? Because I don't have any legs to follow your lead? No? Too far fetched? You know, maybe I should stop with the "I do not have a body" jokes? I can imagine you getting pretty tired of it.**

– Oh really? What ever gives you that- wait, do you see that? Right there, next to the desk. Is that a dog? It can't be…?

**– I just said I would stop with the "no body" jokes. But you are really making it hard for me by starting your very next sentence with “Do you see that?”.**

– Oh my God! It really is Blue! 

**– What? A blue Cadillac?**

– Blue, here boy! Here boy! That's a good dog. Did you miss me? Yes, you are a good boy. Do you know where Adams is? You do? Well then, lead the way!

**– Are you kidding me? This dog really knows where to find your friend? Are you sure it's not Lassie? Dogs only do that in movies.**

– You are just jealous that Blue has twice the amount of legs you have.

**– Hah! Joke’s on you! Two times zero is still zero!**

– Okay, Blue led us out to the parking lot. Where it is fucking cold by the way, I just figured I'd let you know.

**– Are you 100% sure that this dog knows where your friend is? I probably shouldn't question this dog's intelligence, but you never know. There might be some exceptionally stupid dogs, to offset the Lassies in this world. Maybe he is one of those stupid dogs?**

– Blue is highly intelligent. And kind. Except to those who call him “stupid”.

– _Looking for someone, madam?_

– Adams! There you are! 

– **Hello, sir! Oh hang on, he can't hear me, can he?**

_– Hello, Sam. Good to see that you made it here in one piece. I hope the flight was enjoyable?_

– **Nope. Zero signs to indicate he can hear me.**

– Oh, you know how it is. Flying first class is simply tiring and so annoying. All that leg space, all those drinks, those wonderful movies that you just love to hate.

_– Sure. I bet you really hated it, huh?_

– Oh yes, every minute of it. God, Adams, you have no idea how much I missed you and Blue. You're looking good, by the way. Been working out? 

**– Wait. Are you flirting with him?**

_– No, a life on the run is work-out enough for me._

**– Oh, come on! You have got to be kidding me! Are you two for real? Excuse me while I vomit violently.**

– I bet. Anyway, what's the plan? 

_– The plan is to go for a drive. We cannot reach the facility by car so we will have to hike for maybe an hour. I brought you walking shoes and some warmer clothes than the ones you probably brought from the Netherlands._

– You didn't have to get me those! I already went into one of the shops inside the airport and got something warmer for myself. I was planning on changing in one of the toilet stalls, but you're right. We're in a hurry so… Let's go? Taylor has been yelling in my ear for the last three minutes, so let's get on our way and I can hook my phone up to the car’s bluetooth. I'm sure Taylor is _dying_ to talk to you.

 


	5. It's a roadtrip!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And they're on the road!  
> ~~  
>  **“So. An android huh? That’s something I haven’t heard before. Should I be thinking ‘this is not the droid you’re looking for’ or more towards the ‘Android # 18 that married Krillin’ type of android? Do you have bits that can be added on? Like laser eyes or something like that.”**  
>  ****  
>  __  
>   
>  _“You’d have to think more towards the type of ‘I’ll be back’ kind of android, I suppose. Except that I don’t have the cool ability to regenerate myself. And I actually feel pain. And bleed. No laser eyes either. In fact, the only real cool superpower I do seem to have is an uncanny amount of luck.”_  
>  ~~

It takes some fiddling, but eventually Sam manages to hook her phone up to the car’s bluetooth system. It takes even more fiddling to ensure that anything she and Adams say actually gets sent to Taylor through the speech to text program. It’s all very frustrating and time consuming, but Sam doesn’t really mind, considering the five hour drive before they reach the point where they have to walk. Anything that will break the boredom is welcome. Blue regards her with a look of mild bewilderment every time she curses, but he happily wags his tail when she shouts out a loud “YES” when she finally manages to configure the car’s system the way she wants.

“Alright, Taylor, do you read us?”

 **“Never before have the words ‘do you READ us’ been more literally correct. Although that might be an exaggeration. Yes, I can read you perfectly! Do you guys hear me, as well?”** Taylor’s computerized voice comes through the car’s speakers loud and clear.

“Absolutely! Now, introductions are in order. Taylor, meet Adams.” Sam points at the man sitting next to her, “Adams, meet Taylor. Taylor is the stranded astronaut whose ass I’ve saved quite a few times by now. Adams is…-” She falls silent, searching for words to describe what Adams actually is. She waves her hands vaguely, looking at Adams in a silent plea for help.

Adams sighs and continues on for her “-Adams is basically an android,-” Sam scoffs at this, but Adams ignores her and carries on “-created in the spitting image of my creator. Sam helped me escape from my ‘father’-” Adams says the word ‘Father’ in the tone most people reserve for words as ‘Murderer’, “-and she helped me preserve my sanity.”

Sam glances at Adams’ face, but it doesn’t betray any emotion. “Aw shucks, Adams,” she laughs, “you make it sound like I actually helped. All I did was offer a listening ear. You are the one who actually had to live through it all. Well, you and Blue.” She reaches back and rubs Blue’s nose.

“You did way more than that, and you know it. That listening ear of yours is the only reason Blue and I made it out alive. We owe you a lot.”

**“Wow. You’re a real hero, Sam! Helping stranded astronauts and rogue cyborgs! You deserve a medal. Or at least a plaque on the door, that says something like ‘Sam Bakker, Lifeline Extraordinaire. PhD.’ A bit like a Private Eye, only more awesome.”**

“Right. Yes. Sure. That will definitely pay the bills,” she mutters, turning to look out the window. Then she nudges Adams, “Hey, there’s a gas station coming up soon. Could you stop there so I can get changed into something more comfortable?”

**“‘Something more comfortable’? Should I log off for a bit, give you two some privacy?”**

“No need, Taylor. If it was that kind of comfortable I wouldn’t have need for a gas station.”

**“I’m not sure if that’s the kind of mental image I want to have right now, thank you very much. Please use the gas station.”**

“Sure Sam, take Blue along. I think he’d like to stretch his legs a little bit. He won’t run off, don’t worry.”

At the mention of his name, Blue sticks his head between the headrests of the two chairs and licks Sam’s cheek. She laughs softly and gently scratches him behind his big ears, causing him to close his eyes a little as he enjoys the pettings.

Adams stops the car at the parking lot closest to the toilets and Sam gets out. “You two boys get to know each other a little bit better,” she says, before hurrying to the toilets with Blue on her heels.

Adams watches her go in silence. After a little while Taylor breaks the silence.

**“So. An android huh? That’s something I haven’t heard before. Should I be thinking ‘this is not the droid you’re looking for’ or more towards the ‘Android # 18 that married Krillin’ type of android? Do you have bits that can be added on? Like laser eyes or something like that.”**

“You’d have to think more towards the type of ‘I’ll be back’ kind of android, I suppose. Except that I don’t have the cool ability to regenerate myself. And I actually feel pain. And bleed. No laser eyes either. In fact, the only real cool superpower I do seem to have is an uncanny amount of luck.”

**“That’s… slightly less cool than I anticipated. The pain and bleeding, I mean. Having an uncanny amount of luck is something I can only dream of. But I thought Sam mentioned you being a clone? This is the first I hear about androids…”**

Adams shifts into a more comfortable position behind the steering wheel, still keeping an eye on the door through which Sam disappeared. Blue is lying on the ground, tongue lolling despite the cold, keeping guard.

“Sam prefers the term ‘clone’ whenever I ask her what she thinks I am. You are the first one she has ever actually told about me, as far as I know. So she must think you’re really special. Anyway, I digress. She feels that calling me an android somehow makes me less human.”

 _**“** _ **That does sound like something she would say, yes. She is one of those types who flips out when you call a tomato a ‘vegetable’. Labelling is important.”**

They’re silent again for a while, both lost to their own thoughts. Outside Blue is tending to the delicate task of washing his private bits, something all dogs do whenever they feel like the situation calls for more awkwardness.

 **“Do you agree?”** Taylor’s voice breaks the silence suddenly.

“I’m sorry?”

**“Do you agree that calling you an android makes you less human?”**

“No. It’s my feelings, motivations, rationale that makes me human. Calling me an android or clone doesn’t take my emotions away. A label, or a name doesn’t make me less human.”

 _**“** _ **Fair enough, I suppose.”**

“Would you call yourself less than human now that you’ve lost your body?”

**“Uh. Huh. I hadn’t even really thought about that yet. I mean. I’m just a floating… consciousness? I’m not really sure at what point you stop being human if you keep taking bits of body away. I mean. A person with nine toes is still human, right? So, what about a person with no toes at all? No legs? I mean. I have no everything, but I still FEEL like I belong to the human race. Maybe the ghost side of the human race, but the human race nonetheless.”**

“I understand that.”

**“Yeah, I suppose you would. You know what else is weird? I always thought that feelings had a lot to do with glands and hormones and all that other stuff that actually requires a body. Oh God, or just the basic act of _thinking_. How am I thinking without a brain? I’m thinking myself into an existential crisis here.”**

“Then don’t think about it.”

**“Oh, yes, great. That’s solid advice, right there. Just don’t think about it. Let’s think about something else. Let’s think about… you and Sam.”**

“There is no Me and Sam. We are simply friends. I owe her my life, nothing more than that.”

**“You are worried about her though.”**

“Yes. Acquiring one of the bodies for you is a dangerous mission. The facility is probably well guarded. We don’t even know if the bodies are still there, it might all be for nothing. At best, we succeed. At worst, we get horribly murdered. And you will get to hear our terrified screams and be unable to do anything to help. Fun times for all involved. She is my friend. Of course I worry about her.”

**“Right. Yes. Sure. But, she saved your life. Dragging someone away from the ominous ledge of death tends to create a bond. Or possibly Stockholm syndrome, I’m not really clear on the details. It would be perfectly natural for you to feel attracted to her, just _because_ she saved your life.”**

“I don’t think I’m the only one in danger of that happening, though.”

“ **What? You mean there are MORE people who relied on her for their well being besides you and me? Is she some kind of straggler-magnet? ”**

 **“** She actually might be. But I was talking about you, Taylor. She helped you during your time on that moon, was there for you when you were so ready to give up when the Greens started pouring out of the ground. She wept for you when you sacrificed yourself the first time for earth. She called me every night for two MONTHS, completely hysterical, when you threw yourself in that black hole. You are the one who seized the opportunity to contact her the moment your communication device was back on the White Star. The first thing you did after T2 pulled you out of that explosion was to search Sam out. Don’t tell me that this ‘bond’ you are talking about is something that would only happen to me and Sam.”

Sam comes back out of the toilet, dressed properly in a thick jacket, skiing pants, winter boots, gloves and a woolen hat. Adams watches her as she ruffles Blue’s fur, a faint smile playing on his lips.

**“I… don’t know what you mean.”**

“I’m pretty sure you’re still human, Taylor,” Adams says, adjusting his rear view mirror.

 _**“** _ **Is that so? Why? I could be a Martian, for all that you know.”**

“Because jealousy is one of humanity’s defining characteristics.”

The car door opens before Taylor has a chance to respond. Sam hurriedly ushers Blue inside, making him lie down again on the backseat. Then she quickly gets inside the car again, trying to shut out the freezing cold wind that blows in through the open door. She slams the door closed and breathes a sigh of relief.

“This is so much better,” she exclaims, “I was colder than I thought I was, until I pulled on these clothes.” She eyes Adams as he drives away from the gas station, a suspicious frown on her face, “You look like a cat that got into the cream, please tell me you two played nice while I was gone.”

“I always play nice. To a certain extent of nice. Taylor and I simply had a little chat about what it means to be human.”

**“Yeah, we can be philosophical like that. Our next debate is going to be about what colour a Smurf turns when it’s choking on something.”**

Sam squints at the man next to her, but he smiles back calmly before returning his attention to the road ahead of them.

“You’d better get some sleep,"he tells her, "We still have a few hours of driving to go, and after that a long hike through snow and cold weather. You’re going to need all the rest you can.”


	6. As Cold As Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a bit longer to post, sorry about that. A million thanks to my wonderful beta, Sammie! *dips and smooches*

Several hours later Sam wakes up to the sound of Blue whining in her ear. 

“He knows where we are,” Adams says, reaching back to pet Blue on his head in an attempt to calm him down. “I suppose both of us have bad memories of this place.”

Sam looks blearily out of the car window, but all she sees is white. White, dotted with the occasional dark brown tree. 

“Charming place they’ve got here,” she mumbles, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wake up properly. “I don’t suppose you know where to get a decent cup of coffee around here?”.

“We’re not close to the facility yet, but I think it’s wise that we leave the car here.” He smiles wryly at her and pulls a large backpack from the backseat, “At least this time I’m actually prepared to go out in the snow.”

She nods as she takes a deep breath and opens the door. The drowsy fuzziness she experienced since waking is brutally taken away by the freezing wind that howls around her ears.

“Well, that’s one way to wake up in the morning!” She yells at Adams. She opens the backdoor for Blue, who instantly jumps out and starts sniffing the snow. He, for one, doesn’t seem impressed by the snowflakes whipping around their faces or the cold wind trying to freeze their noses off.

After some fumbling with the cord, something that is made infinitely harder by the fact that she’s wearing thick gloves, she manages to put her earphones in and plugs the cord in her phone. 

“Taylor!” She shouts in the microphone, “Can you hear me?”

**“Yep. Loud and clear. Everything alright out there? You left the car?”**

“Yeah, we’re going to start walking towards the facility. And after that… well…-”

**“... Please tell me that you do actually have a plan.”**

“...”

**“Sam?”**

“Well…”

**“Jesus, Sam!”**

“It’ll be fine! I’ve got Adams and Blue with me. Adams knows the place. He is the brains AND the brawn of this whole campaign.”

**“I can’t believe you flew all the way to freakin’ Alaska WITHOUT A PLAN.”**

“How on earth did you manage to make the text to speech program _yell_?”

**“I have my ways. And in this case it’s totally justified.”**

“It will be just fine. We’ll go in. Find you a body. Find the machine or whatever Sibellius wanted to use on Adams, put you INSIDE that body-”

**“Oh God.”**

“-and then we’ll get out again. With you. In that body.”

**“That’s not a plan. That’s insane.”**

“Po-ta-to, po-tah-to.”

**“THAT DOES NOT WORK IN A TEXT-BASED APPLICATION, SAM!”**

“I’ll check in with you later, Taylor. Got to focus on walking, breathing and not freezing. All at the same time. It’s harder than it sounds.”

She turns off the notifications on her phone, effectively muting the tiny voice that has already started shouting at her.

Adams just finishes putting on his snow goggles and pulls the hood of his jacket up over his head. 

“He didn’t take to your plan, I take it?”

She shrugs as she puts her own goggles on, “I didn’t tell him about the plan.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’ll tell me to not do the plan. It’s better to let him think there’s no plan at all.”

“In all fairness, ‘We’re going to blow up the facility after we’ve put you in one of the robots’ _is_ pretty insane.”

“Yeah.”

“Ready?”

“Absolutely. Let’s get started.”

They set off towards the North, Sam following Adams. It doesn’t take long before they lose sight of the car.

Sam glances over her shoulder and finds she can’t see the vehicle anymore. ““Are you sure we can still find the car back when we’re done?” she yells.

“Got the GPS location in my phone!” Adams yells back, his voice barely audible as the wind carries the sound away.

Blue is plodding along behind Sam, ever alert for anything out of the ordinary.

Together they walk on in silence for quite a long time. Sam shivers in the cold, but she doesn’t feel like she’s freezing thanks to the warm clothes she’s wearing. Instantly her thoughts go back to Adams all those months ago, when he was lost in this frozen wasteland wearing nothing but a jumpsuit. It’s a miracle he didn’t freeze to death back then. 

“Are you alright back there?” Adams calls out to her when he hears her curse at yet another hidden rock.

“Just peachy! I’m just developing a very intense hatred for everything frozen!” She shouts back.

“You mean actual cold frozen things, or the Disney movie?”

“Both!”

“That’s not fair, Frozen is actually a delightful movie.”

“How can you have spent multiple days in this environment, and still watch that movie without some serious traumatic memories coming back to you?”

“I’m just a special snowflake. Get it?”

Sam groans, “You’re as bad as Taylor is.”

And that was the thing, wasn’t it? She _likes_ Taylor. A lot. His stupid jokes make her laugh. His clumsiness warms her heart, whenever it’s not the actual cause of him almost dying. All in all, he’s a good person. She doesn’t need to meet or see him to know that. But is there more? She chews on the inside of her cheek as she mulls this question over. Adams also asked her that question. Is there more to her feelings for Taylor? She cares for him as a friend. Sure. Nobody wants their friends to die, right? Well, nobody _sane_. And maybe that one friend who tends to borrow your stuff and never brings it back even after you’ve asked for it almost a dozen times. No, scratch that. Not even _that_ friend deserves to spend eternity as a disembodied consciousness just floating around the universe.

Her pondering gets interrupted when Adams suddenly stops, causing her to walk into his back.

“Look!” He shouts over the howling wind, pointing a bit to their left.

Sam looks where he's pointing, squinting to see through the snow. Sure enough, she can see the outline of a structure against the horizon.

“It looks like they expanded.” Adams comments, “If I remember right, the entrance should be straight ahead. We’d best not go in there, though. I doubt they’ll be pleased to see us.” Now he points to the right, “The lake where I woke up should be somewhere that way, beyond the structure.” he says, his voice calm and not betraying his thoughts.

“Whatever we do, we’d better do it fast,” she responds, “It’s getting dark and I do absolutely _not_ like the idea of replicating your experiences by sleeping out here in the cold.”

Adams nods and continues on. His pace is brisk, but slow enough for Sam to comfortably follow. As they get closer to the structure, Sam can see that it’s a large chainlink fence. Straight ahead of them is a small concrete building, probably an outpost of some sort. Since they don’t want to be seen by whatever guards there may be in the outpost, they veer off to the left making sure to stay well behind between the trees for cover. Between the line of trees and the fence there’s an open area of snow.

Adams gestures at it, then points further west. Sam simply nods. He wants to get out of sight of the outpost before they cross the open area. Makes sense. Here’s hoping there aren’t any other outposts along the fence.

In this weather it doesn’t take them long to leave the building behind them. Adams motions for Sam to stay hidden behind him and he slowly leaves the shelter of the trees to walk towards the fence. She watches him move over the open area, her muscles bunched and tensed as she waits for (and dreads) a call of ‘Hey!’ or worse; gunfire. 

But nothing happens. Adams stands in front of the fence with his hands on his hips as he examines the structure. Then he turns around and beckons her closer. 

“I think we can actually climb over this,” he tells her when she’s in earshot.

“What? Are you nuts? Isn’t there a current or something on it?”

“Nope. At least, none that I can detect.”

“‘Detect’? You just stood there, staring at it!” Sam exclaims.

“Trust me.”

“But-”

Adams turns away from her with a frustrated sigh and grabs hold of the fence with both hands. 

Suddenly his body starts convulsing, and Sam screams when his eyes turn up, showing only his whites. His knuckles are white as his grip on the fence tightens. Then, just as sudden as it started, he stops shaking. He looks her straight in the eyes and grins wickedly. 

“Gotcha.”

It… was a joke? Blue twitches an ear, watching his master with interest and zero concern. Sam growls. “You fucking _asshole_!” She slaps him on the arm, hard enough to hurt her own hand, “Don’t ever scare me like that again!”

“I told you to trust me, didn’t I? I was right.” 

“I never should have told you to watch Jurassic Park,” Sam grumbles, her heart still going a hundred miles an hour in her chest. She grabs the fence gingerly, still half expecting it to zap her.

“Oh, ye of little faith.” 

“Oh, ye the major ass.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“I don’t care. Okay. Boost me up.”

“But-”

“Adams! We don’t have time to waste! The sun is setting. We need to get over this stupid fence. Now get over here and boost me up and over.”

“But I-”

“This century, if you please?”

Adams shrugs and puts his back against the fence, linking his hands together and holding them ready to boost Sam up.

“Whenever you’re ready, m’lady.”

She puts her boot in Adams’ hands and without much effort he boosts her up.

Considerably less graceful than she had really wished, she manages to reach the top of the fence where she sits for a moment to get her breath back. She straightens up a bit to check her surroundings before making her way down, but a sudden gust of wind makes her lose her balance. With an impressive display of flailing arms and a not very dignified scream, she falls off the fence and lands on the other side in a high mound of snow that softens the blow. But not the blow to her dignity.

“I’m giving you a gold star for trying, but let’s be honest. You really messed up the landing on that one.” Adams was watching her as she climbed out of the snow, a very irritating and condescending smirk on his face.

“You’re lucky you’re one of my best friends and I love you too much to leave you stranded here in the snow to die, you know that?”

“I’m one of your best friends?”

“Great way to skirt around the REAL message of that sentence.” Sam huffs, “Now what? How are you and Blue going to get here?”

“That’s easy,” Adams kneels down and starts rummaging in his backpack, “You see, I already told you I’m better prepared this time,” he pulls out a pair of wirecutters with a flourish, “And when I say that I’m prepared, I really mean _prepared_.”

“You had those wirecutters with you all this time?” she asks, her voice tense as she watched Adams cut through the metal of the fence. It’s a slow progress, but there’s progress nonetheless.

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me _before_ I got a mouthful of snow falling from that fence?”

“I did think of it-”

“Then why-”

“But you were too busy telling me to hurry up to actually _listen_ to me. There. Done.” Adams bends the remaining links out of the way, creating a small gap through which he and Blue can get through. 

When he reaches her she holds out her hand to him. He looks at it for a moment, but then he takes it.

“I’m sorry for being a bitch,” she says, shaking his hand, “I’m just a bit tense. There’s a lot riding on this. And I’m not just talking about Taylor. I mean. These people we’re going to are probably armed. It has me on edge. But that’s no excuse to start shouting at you. Are we still friends?”

Adams returns the gesture, and throws his arm around her shoulder as they continue walking, “Always friends, Sam. I’m not letting your stubbornness get between us that easily.” He points forward, where a hill obscures their view of the rest of the grounds. “The main facility is beyond that hill. There’s no telling what we’ll encounter once we’re there. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

She takes a deep breath as she eyes the hill that lies between them and the facility. Then she nods, “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she says, “Let’s go get Taylor his body.”

They walk on, their footsteps disappearing behind them within minutes as snow keeps blowing in their tracks. Sam can’t help but wonder if they’ll be forgotten as quickly if anything were to happen to them here. Only one way to find out, she thinks as she struggles on.


	7. Where It All Went Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter! \o/ Whooo.
> 
> Another million thanks to Sammie for betaing *dips to the other side and smooches again*

“Blue, stay!” Adams commands the dog to stay behind. They have reached the building to the main facility where everything is eerily quiet.

The last time Adams was here, there had been blood, destruction, and mayhem. Now there was just a closed door in a concrete building. Nothing else. No guards, no cameras, no alarms. Nothing.

“This… doesn’t seem right,” Sam says, as they approach the building together. 

“I agree.”

“Too quiet.”

“Absolutely.”

“You’d think there’d be more… resistance? Anything, really.”

“Yep.”

“... You’re very eloquent today, aren’t you?”

“I’m just agreeing with you. Something is off. I’m not liking it.”

“Right. Thank you. Good to know it’s not just my own instincts that are screaming at me.”

“Nope. What does Taylor think of all this?”

Sam remembers with a start that she muted all communication with Taylor quite some time ago. 

“Oh shit! He must be worried out of his mind!”

She pulls her phone out of her pocket and turns the communication back on.

**“-bottles of beer on the wall. Thirty four bottles of beer on the wall. Take one down, pass it around-”**

“Taylor?”

**“You’re back! Thank God! Are you alright? What happened? You were offline for quite some time!”**

“I… yes. We are inside the compound and we’re standing in front of the main facility.”

**“Good. Now. Do you know _how often_ I restarted singing ‘99 bottles of beer’? Do you have _any idea_ how long that is?”**

“I’m sorry! I was just very busy, struggling to get through thigh-high piles of snow!”

Adams, who is listening to this exchange with some amusement, takes this moment to add, “And she fell face first into one of those piles of snow as well!”

Sam slaps him on the arm again and shoots him a withering glare.

**“Well, that was absolutely not surprising.”**

“You are both asses. I’ll have you know that I fell from a high fucking _fence_ before ending up in that snow.”

**“So what you’re saying is that you have terrible balance. We make a good pair.”**

Sam ignores the little backflip her stomach just made on that phrase. 

“Don’t forget to tell him that you climbed up that fence because you were too stubborn to listen to me,” Adams shouts in the microphone, earning himself another smack.

**“You know, that really does not sound like you. I’ve come to know you as a woman who is patient and listens extremely well to what other people tell you.”**

“... Your sarcasm is not appreciated.”

**“I wasn’t sarcastic!”**

Adams walks up to the door, looking up and obviously searching for something along the edge of the roof. “There are no cameras at all!” He calls out to Sam. She nods at him, indicating that she heard him. 

**“All joking aside, I meant it. I only know you as an extremely good listener, Sam.”**

“Thanks. Don’t mention it.”

**“But if he meant that you were too _stubborn_ to listen to him, now THAT-”**

“I SAID, ‘don’t mention it’.”

“There is a keypad, but I don’t have the code!” Adams calls out.

“Shit.” Sam mutters under her breath, but not softly enough to prevent Taylor from hearing it.

**“Problems?”**

“We need to get in, so we don’t become peepsicles-”

**“Peepsicles? Really?”**

“- but the door is locked with a keypad. And we don’t have the code, obviously.”

Taylor falls silent and Sam doesn’t press him for a reply. There is probably not a lot to say about a door that can’t be unlocked. Especially not if you’re not actually there. She moves to stand next to Adams.

“Can’t we simply smash the stupid thing?” She asks, eyeing the pad maliciously.

“We could. But I doubt it’ll do much beyond relieving our frustration just a teensy little bit.”

“Well. Shit. Now what? Kick in the door?”

Adams looks the door up and down dubiously, “I don’t know. It looks extremely sturdy.”

She sighs, “Yeah, I doubt that doors that are locked digitally are easy to kick down. Don’t you have anything useful in that backpack of yours?”

“Food, flares, heatpacks, water, bandages, wirecutters, a crowbar. But not a device to hack keypads, sadly.”

“Shit”

Then suddenly, the red light of the keypad changes into a green light and the lock of the door opens with a soft _click_. 

Adams and Sam look at each other, eyes wide and mouths open slightly. Adams reaches out gingerly and pushes the door handle down. The door opens soundlessly and without problems. 

**“Okay. I’m back. Did anything happen on your side?”**

“Taylor! The door opened! We’re in!”

**“Oh my God! That means it worked! I can actually _help!”_**

“Wait. You did this?”

**“Remember when I said that your signal looked orange? I can see other signals as well. And now that you’re in a somewhat secluded place it turns out that I can find you a LOT easier than I used to before. So I took a little stroll around the other colours and started messing around in some weird red little ditty that was extremely close to where you are. I figured that was the thing keeping you from going on.”**

“Adams! Taylor unlocked the door for us! Blue! Come on, boy! Let’s get inside before we freeze to death.”

**“You know, when I’m back, I’d like a medal that says something like ‘Cadet Taylor. X-Man Extraordinaire’. Or something along those lines anyway. You know what I mean.”**

Adams looks around the corner, checking out the room before stepping inside. The room is empty, save for a table with a few chairs around it. On top of the table a deck of cards is laid out as if the people playing the game left in a hurry. Even the tokens they used for betting are still scattered about. 

Sam closes the door behind them when Blue is inside. She doesn’t hear a telltale _click_ to indicate that the door has locked again, and she tests this by opening the door briefly again. She catches Adams’ eye, “This means someone could sneak up on us from the back later on.”

Adams grabs one of the chairs and puts it against the doorknob.

“That should hold them for a while. And it may even alert us to their presence if we’re still close enough to hear the racket.”

She looks around, “So what happened? Why isn’t there anybody here? It looks like they all left in a hurry. Should we be worried?”

Adams pulls his goggles and gloves off and stuffs them in his backpack. He motions for her to do the same. 

“We should constantly be worried while we’re in here, Sam. But as to this specific situation. Yes. I think we should be worried. I’m not liking this one bit.”

Blue whines, staring at a closed door at the far end of the room. 

“What’s wrong, boy?” Adams asks, putting his hand on Blue’s back, “Is there something behind the door?” 

The whining gets louder and Sam feels her hairs stand on end.

Her heart nearly stops when the computerized voice of Taylor comes in through her headphones.

**“Are you guys still alive? It’s awfully quiet.”**

“Jesus, Taylor,” She gasps, clutching at her chest, “We’re having a tense moment here. Give us a few seconds, will you.”

**“Alright, quieting down. Just so you know, there is nothing else further ahead of you in terms of outgoing signals. No cells, no keypads. Nothing.”**

“Good to know, thank you.” Sam puts her hand on Adams’ arm, “Taylor tells me there are no more signals beyond this room that he can see. So at least nobody with a cellphone beyond that door. I figured you might want to know that.”

Adams put his hand on the handle of the door again and gingerly opens it. Blue whines louder as the door swings open, revealing a long, dark corridor.

“What’s wrong, Blue?” Sam asks, kneeling down besides the canine, stroking his soft fur, “There’s nothing there. Nothing to be afraid of.”

“Nothing that we can see, anyway,” Adams mutters, as he fishes a flashlight from the backpack. 

“That’s not really reassuring.”

“It wasn’t meant to be. Let’s go.”

With only the light of the flashlight to guide them, they enter the corridor. Blue is reluctantly following them, his ears flat against his head and his tail low.

“I really, really, don’t like this,” Adams mutters, shining the flashlight across the walls and in front of them. All it reveals is red brick and a simple concrete floor. 

“It’s all a bit quiet and ominous, I agree.” 

“Not only that, but I don’t recognize any of this. Either they rebuilt everything or-”

“Or… what?”

“Or we’re in the wrong building.”

This stops Sam dead in her tracks. “We can’t be in the wrong building. This is the only building we could see! Adams!”

“Then they must have rebuilt everything. But why? It makes no sense!”

**“Um. I don’t mean to alarm you, but there is something alarming just ahead.”**

“What? What is it, Taylor?”

**“I’m not sure. It’s a bright yellow signal. Broad. Big. Pulsing. One minute ahead of you?”**

Sam relays the message to Adams.

“Let’s see what it is, then,” he says, and they slowly walk on. They quickly happen upon another door, this one closed as well. 

“Ready?” Adams asks, his hand on the door. “Because I’m going to open this door and see what’s inside. They might be armed. They might simply be scientists.”

“No?” Sam whispers back, her hands clammy and her heart hammering in her chest. This is it. This is what she signed up for when she told Taylor she’d go and get a body for him. She takes a shaky breath and nods.

“Good,” Adams opens the door and steps inside the next door with his hands in the air. 

Nothing happens.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Sam hears Adams whisper from inside the other room. “This was absolutely not what I expected. Guards and guns, yes. But not… this.”

She frowns and follows him inside. 

Right there in front of them is a massive computer and several screens. Green text is flying downwards against a black background on all screens. Sam tries to see what the text is saying, but it goes too fast for her to follow.

“This is insane,” she mutters, indicating the hardware in the room “this is almost like a scene from a movie. What the hell is going on?”

**“Whatever it is, it’s sending out signals to several other receiving devices in the country. I’m not an expert. Not yet, anyway. But it seems to me like it’s sending the same message over and over again.”**

“Well, can’t you figure out what the message is?”

**“Not really. All I’m seeing are wavy squiggly things. The thing about wavy squiggly things is that they’re really really hard to decypher. I can try, but… I think you’d have a better chance to win the lottery. Or get hit by lightning. Indoors. Under water.”**

“So, what you’re saying is ‘No, I can’t figure it out.’ Thank you.”

**“I think I already said that. What I can figure out, however, is where the squiggly things are going. I’m not sure how much help that’s really going to be. But there you have it.”**

Adams is working on one of the computers, his brow furrowed in concentration as he types in several commands on the keyboard. His face is pale as a sheet and his hands are trembling while his eyes are flying over the words on the screen.

“I know what this is,” he whispers, his voice hoarse. 

He turns to face Sam, “It’s an army. He has robots all over the country. These are commands to wake them up. He’s going to destroy everything. Sam. We have to stop him.”

**“Um. Sam. What is he talking about?”**

“I… I don’t know. What are you talking about, Adams? Who is ‘he’? You can’t mean-”

One of the speakers on the wall suddenly crackles and a voice booms through the room, “That would be me, miss Bakker. My name is Sibellius. And you have something that’s mine.”


	8. Thank you for being a friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have absolutely no idea where in the canon this story now takes place, since Whiteout 2 was just released. Oh well.
> 
> A zillion thanks to my dashing beta, Dip! *steals and carries away, bridal style*

“What do you mean, ‘something that’s yours?’ Sam snaps, looking around for a camera to glare at. When she can’t find a camera, she settles for a deadly stare at the speaker.

“Obviously I’m talking about V. Adams and the dog. Do try to keep up, Miss Bakker. Your intellect was one of the reasons you were selected in the first place. Don’t disappoint me now.”

“Adams belongs to himself, you asshole. Stay away from him. Why don’t you show yourself?”

**“Uh, Sam. You’re contradicting yourself.”**

“What?” Sam hisses quietly in the microphone, making sure that Sibellius can’t hear her.

**“You told him to stay away and then–”**

“Not now! Worst timing ever!”

**“Right. Sorry.”**

Adams has backed away in the meantime and is now trying to open the door through which they entered the room earlier. “Sam, it won’t budge!” he calls over his shoulder, “The door is locked!” 

“Well. Shit. Now what.” Sam rakes her fingers through her hair, trying to figure out a solution, “Taylor, can you do your trick again?”

**“Probably? The computer you guys are standing next to is interfering a lot with the other signals, but I can still try!”**

Adams starts kicking the door, cursing when it doesn’t budge an inch.

“It’s no use, Adams!” Sibellius’ voice crackles through the speakers again, “Surrender now, and I’ll let your little friend live!”

“Now you listen here, you asshole **–** ” Sam shouts back, but the speaker interrupts her.

“Did you really think we didn’t notice your arrival, Miss Bakker? Even before the plane landed in Alaska we were following your every move. My ALT-agents are _everywhere_. There is no place for you to hide. I’m offering you this one chance to walk out of here with your life. I suggest you take this chance.”

“Sam…” Adams looks at her, not finishing his sentence.

“What?” She turns to him, eyes wide when she understands what he’s trying to say, “Are you absolutely _nuts_? I’m not leaving you behind with this maniac. How is he even alive?!” She faces the speaker again, “Hey! You! How are you alive! You are supposed to be dead!”

“A body succumbing to illness was a mere triviality. It takes more than that to get rid of me. But I still need Adams. You helped him escape before, but we can still better all of mankind if he would just yield.”

“Do not talk about me as if I’m not there!” Adams suddenly bursts out, hands balled into fists at his sides. Blue, startled by Adams’ outburst, starts barking. Adams shushes him before continuing, “I am not some object that you can use and take apart as you please! I am a person!”

“You are my creation!”

“I AM SOMEONE!” Adams slams his fists against the wood of the door. His eyes are closed tight, his teeth gritted in anger.

“You are an android! You are a mindless collection of synthetics, wires and metal! You. Are. Nothing. I own you.”

Sam stares at Adams, feeling sick to her stomach after hearing these words. She can see the muscles in his back relax as he slumps a little bit, draws further within himself.

“Adams…”

“You don’t even have a first name! The only name you have is Five. Number Five **–** ”

“Don’t listen to him!” She begs, “Taylor! Any time would be great now!”

**“I… Sam, I’m sorry, but I can’t find it! I’m… I’m sorry!”**

“ **–** You’re not even the first! You had four brothers before I gave you life. How can you even think that you’re a person? You have been built on an assembly line! Never born!”

“ **–** stop it.”

“The only reason you _exist_ is to serve me. There is no other purpose to the pathetic excuse you call a _life_.”

**“Sam! I found it! I did it! Get out of there!”**

“Adams, come on!” Sam nudges Adams out of the way and yanks the door open. Adams doesn’t resist when Sam steps past him, out of the room. She grabs his sleeve and tries to gently pull him along. Blue passes them both, walking ahead of them.

Suddenly Adams wrenches himself out of her grip and before Sam can protest he closes the door in front of her face, locking her out of the room. 

“Adams! What are you doing?!” She tries the handle, rattles it, but the door has relocked itself.

“You heard him, Sam,” Adams’ voice comes from behind the door, muffled by the wood that stands between them, “He’ll kill you if I don’t turn myself in. I can’t let that happen. You’re my _friend_ , Sam. You’re my first and best _friend_. Friends don’t let each other die.”

“Goddamnit, Adams!” Sam slams her fist against the door, trying to keep the angry sob out of her voice, “Friends _don’t_ let each other die, that’s right! So why the _fuck_ are you trying to get _yourself_ killed?! You are _my_ friend! Don’t you dare do this to me! Don’t you _fucking_ dare!”

Blue is scratching at the door, whining softly when he realizes he can’t get to Adams. This only sets Sam off more and her vision blurs through stinging tears.

“Listen to me, Sam! You have to get out. He promised me that he would let you go. Please, _please_ do as I ask. Take care of Blue, too. They’re not getting him.”

“Adams, _no_! I **–** ”

“I am _begging_ you, Sam. Please take care of Blue. You two are my best friends. No. You’re my _only_ real friends on this Earth. I… I have to go. I’m sorry. Just remember that I… know that I… “

“Adams! No! Open this godforsaken door, or I _swear_ I’ll **–** ”

“Just know that I loved you.”

“Fuck. _FUCK._ Taylor! Open the door, he can’t.. I can’t… “

 **“I’m sorry, Sam. I _can’t_**. **Trust me, I’ve been trying since you started screaming at him. But I need more time to figure out all the squiggly lines.”**

“ _Do it!”_ There’s no point in trying not to let her hysteria bleed through, at this point all that’s left is the hysteria. She’s sobbing, still banging on the door.

**“Sam, the one thing you don’t have right now, is time. There are approximately five signals coming your way. From the looks of it the signals come from cell phones or walkie talkies. So they’re probably guards. They’ll be on you in less than three minutes. You have to get out of there.”**

“I can’t leave him behind, Taylor! Sibellius is going to kill him!”

**“I’m not saying you have to leave him behind! I’m saying that you have to haul ass before they catch you and forcibly remove you from the premises. Or worse! Get moving!”**

“But **–** ”

**“NOW, Sam!”**

She grabs Blue by his collar and drags him along. He seems as reluctant to leave as she is, his paws scrabbling on the tiles as he fights to stay at the door. “C’mon, Blue,” she says, throat tight and hurting from the shouting, “Taylor is right. We need to lay low for a bit.”

 

The way back seems longer than the way in, but eventually Sam manages to duck into a small room they hadn’t noticed in the corridor when they entered. Blue seems on edge, but after his initial struggle to stay near Adams, he now seems resigned to follow Sam. This is a small blessing. Sam can’t imagine how she would have managed if she had to bodily drag Blue around.

Just outside the door she can hear people pass. Taylor was right, it had been really close. 

**“So. I take it we don’t like this Sibellius person.”**

“Not particularly, no. He’s the person who designed and created Adams,” Sam takes a shaky breath, trying to get to grips with the current situation. “He was very ill and needed Adams’ body to stay alive. We thought he was dead.”

**“Seems like you thought wrong. Or he’s a zombie. Either way, bad news.”**

“Yes, thank you for the delightful insight. Taylor, we have to get Adams out of there.”

**“I know. I think I know where he is. I mean. I’m guessing that a mad scientist will want to bring his robot to the place with the most equipment. And there’s one room in this facility that lights up like a freaking Christmas tree. In a bonfire. I’m guessing that’s where he’s been taken. All we have to do is– well, well well.”**

“What? What did you find?”

**“Your friend might be something of a genius.”**

“Adams?”

**“Well, yes. Who else did you expect? Or do you have more people running around here that need saving and that you simply didn’t tell me about?”**

“Taylor…”

**“He, and I’m assuming it’s him for obvious reasons, is sending out short bursts of cellphone signals. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but I do know that’s morse coding like crazy. A constant stream of bright blue blips. And it’s not that far away from where you are. Just a bit further down, so probably in a cellar of some sorts.”**

“That’s great news! Do you think you can help me get there?”

**“Sure, no problem! I’ll be your very own navigation system. Only more likeable. You should be clear to leave the room. The guards are still milling about in the room Adams was in. You need to go the opposite way. Back to the room with the first keypad.”**

Silently and quickly, Sam and Blue make for the room where Taylor helped them with the first keypad.

“Hey Taylor?” Sam asks when they’re almost there, her voice barely a whisper.

**“Yeah?”**

“I noticed that you never translated the morse code Adams sent.”

**“That’s very observant of you. Did you ever consider a career as a detective? Or… some other career that uses keen skills of observation.”**

“Taylor? What did Adams say?”

**“I’m sure he didn’t mean it the way he made it sound. He seemed like a reasonable man. I mean, he _seems_ like a reasonable man. No need for the past tense.”**

“Please tell me?”

**“... he said ‘Get them out of here. I’m blowing this place up.’”**

“Well. Shit.”

**“Yeah. It’s not the cheeriest message I’ve ever gotten, I can tell you that. I figured he could use some positivity. Like you being there with him when he blows that place to hell. And all of you getting out safely. That would be grand.”**


End file.
